Category Archives: Link Roundup

Quest Diagnostics releases BRCA gene test and preemptively sues Myriad Quest Diagnostics, Inc., one of the largest clinical laboratory companies worldwide, has released BRCAvantage, a diagnostic test for the cancer genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. The company initially announced its plans to introduce the tool this past June, immediately following the Supreme Court’s decision that isolated human genes are not patentable subject matter in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. The Court, however, upheld Continue Reading →

Apple Appeals E-Book Price-Fixing Ruling Apple formally appealed a July decision finding the company guilty of price-fixing in the electronic book (“e-book”) market, as well as an injunction prohibiting Apple from including “most-favored-nation” clauses in its e-book contracts for five years. Last July, Apple was found guilty of “facilitate[ing] a conspiracy” with major book publishers to raise the price of e-books that cost consumers millions of dollars. In 2007, Amazon released the Kindle e-reader, which quickly Continue Reading →

The Silk Road Bust: Ulbricht, Tor and Bitcoins F.B.I. agents recently arrested Ross Ulbricht in connection to the Silk Road, a black market version of eBay that utilized bitcoin currency and was hosted on the Tor network. Since its origins in 2011, the Silk Road generated approximately $1.2 billion in revenue and $80 million in commissions and averaged up to 60,000 visitors per day. Bitcoin values initially dropped by about 20 percent but have swiftly Continue Reading →

Big Brother Isn’t the Only One Watching With all eyes on the federal government’s wiretapping activities, commercial interests have tapped into consumer devices with little to no repercussions. Corporate America – and apparently also Corporate Great Britain with approval from the British government – has been tracking consumer activities and movements without consumer permission or often without consumer knowledge. By tapping into consumers’ cell phones or other wireless devices, wireless network owners access a wealth Continue Reading →

The Syrian Electronic Army Attacks On August 27, the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA), a group of hackers supportive of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, attacked several media organizations, including The New York Times, Huffington Post, and Twitter. Earlier in the month, the SEA had attacked the websites of The Washington Post and CNN. The attack continued to cause problems for the New York Times website through August 29. SEA also temporarily modified Twitter’s domain name server Continue Reading →

California Environmental Laws Do Not Apply To Bullet Train Project A brief was filed by the California state attorney general’s office in the Third District Court of Appeals arguing that the state’s high-speed rail project is no longer subject to the California Environmental Quality Act after the federal Surface Transportation Board ruled that it has jurisdiction over the project. The state is asking the court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the San Francisco Bay Continue Reading →

Spies, Whistleblowers, and Computer Fraud In a case with implications for national security, whistleblowing, and free press, Pfc. Bradley Manning was recently convicted by a military tribunal of six counts under the Espionage Act as well as a variety of other crimes for the leak of sensitive government information, including diplomatic cables, Afghan and Iraqi war logs, and a video of an American helicopter attack which killed a Reuters journalist. Among these crimes was one count under Continue Reading →

Moto X Coming August 1 Motorola, the recently acquired mobile hardware unit of Google, is set to unveil its new family of smartphones at a Moto X Event in New York City on August 1. Android Police provides a complete list of confirmed specs for the Moto X, including a 4.7 inch-display (1280×720 resolution), 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, running Android OS 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Other leaked information also confirms that Continue Reading →

First Sale Doctrine: In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb In Mid-March, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., ruling that a consumer’s rights to resell a purchased copyrighted work under the “First Sale Doctrine” preempts an author’s right to control the importation of his works. This decision was met with cheer from those seeking weaker copyright protection and the freer movement of content, including librarians. It Continue Reading →